Mcguinnessite , Vuagnatite Locality: Copper King Mine, Red Mountain , Red Mountain District, Mendocino County , California , USA ( Locality at mindat.org ) Size: 6.7 x 4.1 x 2 cm. McGuinnessite is a very rare anhydrous copper carbonate, and this mine is the type locality. Ex. Marty Zinn and A.L. McGuiness Collections. Marty got this specimen FROM Collector and dealer A.L. McGuinness himself! Interestingly the label says only Vuagnatite on it, allowing for the possiblity that Marty got this from him before the species in his honor was actually identified and published in 1981. Tim Blackwood Collection. — Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0
Vuagnatite
Vuagnatite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the silicate class, with the chemical formula CaAlSiO₄(OH).
It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system (space group P2_12_12_1). It is a member of the Adelite structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 6; specific gravity 3.42; Vitreous luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Vgn, IMA status: approved, named in 1975.
Found in rodingitized dikes of pegmatitic anorthositic gabbro crosscutting harzburgite-serpentines in an ophiolite (Taurus Mountains, Turkey); in rodingitized metagabbro dikes in serpentinized peridotite (Red Mountain, California, USA).
It is found associated with Chantalite, prehnite, hydrogrossular, vesuvianite, chlorite (Taurus Mountains, Turkey); hydrogrossular, vesuvianite, chlorite, copper.
The name refers to Professor Mark Bernard Vuagnat (1922{), student of ophiolites, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.